Spinor Condensates Research Articles

Dynamics and spontaneous coherence of magnons in ferromagnetic thin films

A theory of the dynamics of the Bose–Einstein condensate of magnons is presented. It is shown that, despite magnon decay processes, ongoing during the condensate formation, the system manifests spontaneous quantum coherence with a pseudo-spin degree of freedom originated from the presence of two valleys in momentum space. Finally, a real space description of the condensed state is provided, revealing the condensate state as a spin density wave. The effective dynamics of the spinor condensate wavefunction is characterized, and it is shown to display Josephson-like relations.

Two component bosonic Josephson junctions in elongated traps

We study binary mixtures of Bose–Einstein condensates confined in a two-well potential within the framework of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. We re-examine both the single component and the binary mixture cases for such a potential. We investigate the most usual dimensional reductions used to solve the Gross–Pitaevskii equations, including the one proposed by Reatto and collaborators. To this end, we compare numerical simulations of the 1D reductions with the full 3D numerical solutions of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. Our analysis considers an experimentally feasible binary mixture of an F = 1 spinor condensate where two of its Zeeman manifolds are populated.

Bose-Einstein Condensates with Spin-Orbit Interaction

Motivated by recent experiments carried out by Spielman's group at NIST, we study a general scheme for generating families of gauge fields, spanning the scalar, spin-orbit, and non-Abelian regimes. The NIST experiments, which impart momentum to bosons while changing their spin state, can in principle realize all these. In the spin-orbit regime, we show that a Bose gas is a spinor condensate made up of two non-orthogonal dressed spin states carrying different momenta. As a result, its density shows a stripe structure with a contrast proportional to the overlap of the dressed states, which can be made very pronounced by adjusting the experimental parameters.

Prethermalization in quenched spinor condensates

Motivated by recent experiments, we consider the dynamics of spin-1 spinor condensates after a quantum quench from the polar to ferromagnetic state from varying the quadratic Zeeman field $q$. We apply the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) to the spinor system, including all spatial and spin degrees of freedom. For short times, we find full agreement with the linearized Bogoliubov analysis. For longer times, where the Bogoliubov theory fails, we find that the system reaches a quasisteady prethermalized state. We compute the Bogoliubov spectrum about the ferromagnetic state with general $q$ and show that the resulting finite-temperature correlation functions grossly disagree with the full TWA results, thus indicating that the system does not thermalize even over very long time scales. Finally, we show that the absence of thermalization over realistic time scales is consistent with calculations of Landau damping rates of excitations in the finite-temperature condensate.

Cooper pairsʼ magnetic moment in MCFL color superconductivity

We investigate the effect of the alignment of the magnetic moments of Cooper pairs of charged quarks that form at high density in three-flavor quark matter. The high-density phase of this matter in the presence of a magnetic field is known to be the Magnetic Color–Flavor-Locked (MCFL) phase of color superconductivity. We derive the Fierz identities of the theory and show how the explicit breaking of the rotational symmetry by the uniform magnetic field opens new channels of interactions and allows the formation of a new diquark condensate. The new order parameter is a spin-1 condensate proportional to the component in the field direction of the average magnetic moment of the pairs of charged quarks. The magnitude of the spin-1 condensate becomes comparable to the larger of the two scalar gaps in the region of large fields. The existence of the spin-1 condensate is unavoidable, as in the presence of a magnetic field there is no solution of the gap equations with nonzero scalar gaps and zero magnetic moment condensate. This is consistent with the fact that the extra condensate does not break any symmetry that has not already been broken by the known MCFL gaps. The spin-1 condensate enhances the condensation energy of pairs formed by charged quarks and the magnetization of the system. We discuss the possible consequences of the new order parameter on the issue of the chromomagnetic instability that appears in color superconductivity at moderate density.

Measurement backaction on the quantum spin-mixing dynamics of a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate

We consider a small F=1 spinor condensate inside an optical cavity driven by an optical probe field, and subject the output of the probe to a homodyne detection, with the goal of investigating the effect of measurement back-action on the spin dynamics of the condensate. Using the stochastic master equation approach, we show that the effect of back-action is sensitive to not only the measurement strength but also the quantum fluctuation of the spinor condensate. The same method is also used to estimate the atom numbers below which the effect of back-action becomes so prominent that extracting spin dynamics from this cavity-based detection scheme is no longer practical.

Tunable dipolar resonances and Einstein-de Haas effect in aRb87-atom condensate

We theoretically study a spinor condensate of $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms in a $F=1$ hyperfine state confined in an optical dipole trap. Putting initially all atoms in an ${m}_{F}=1$, component we observe a significant transfer of atoms to other, initially empty Zeeman states exclusively due to dipolar forces. Because of conservation of a total angular momentum the atoms going to other Zeeman components acquire an orbital angular momentum and circulate around the center of the trap. This is a realization of the Einstein-de Haas effect in a system of cold gases. We show that the transfer of atoms via dipolar interactions is possible only when the energies of the initial and the final sates are equal. This condition can be fulfilled utilizing a resonant external magnetic field, which tunes energies of involved states via the linear Zeeman effect. We found that there are many final states of different spatial density, which can be tuned selectively to the initial state. We show a simple model explaining high selectivity and controllability of weak dipolar interactions in the condensate of $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms.

Magnetization oscillation of a spinor condensate induced by a magnetic field gradient

We study the spin mixing dynamics of ultracold spin-1 atoms in a weak non-uniform magnetic field with field gradient $G$, which can flip the spin from +1 to -1 so that the magnetization $m=\rho_{+}-\rho_{-}$ is not any more a constant. The dynamics of $m_F=0$ Zeeman component $\rho_{0}$, as well as the system magnetization $m$, are illustrated for both ferromagnetic and polar interaction cases in the mean-field theory. We find that the dynamics of system magnetization can be tuned between the Josephson-like oscillation similar to the case of double well, and the interesting self-trapping regimes, i.e. the spin mixing dynamics sustains a spontaneous magnetization. Meanwhile the dynamics of $\rho_0$ may be sufficiently suppressed for initially imbalanced number distribution in the case of polar interaction. A "beat-frequency" oscillation of the magnetization emerges in the case of balanced initial distribution for polar interaction, which vanishes for ferromagnetic interaction.

Neutral skyrmion configurations in the low-energy effective theory of spinor-condensate ferromagnets

We study the low-energy effective theory of spinor condensate ferromagnets for the superfluid velocity and magnetization degrees of freedom. This effective theory describes the competition between spin stiffness and a long-range interaction between skyrmions, topological objects familiar from the theory of ordinary ferromagnets. We find exact solutions to the nonlinear equations of motion describing neutral configurations of skyrmions and antiskyrmions. These analytical solutions provide a simple physical picture for the origin of crystalline magnetic order in spinor condensate ferromagnets with dipolar interactions. We also point out the connections to effective theories for quantum Hall ferromagnets.

Emergent patterns in a spin-orbit-coupled spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensate

The ground-state phases of a spin-orbit (SO) coupled atomic spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) are studied. Interesting density patterns spontaneously formed are widespread due to the competition between SO coupling and spin-dependent interactions like in a SO coupled spin-1 condensate. Unlike the case of spin-1 condensates, which are characterized by either ferromagnetic or polar phase in the absence of SO, spin-2 condensates can take a cyclic phase, where we find the patterns formed due to SO are square or triangular in their spin component densities for axial symmetric SO interaction. Both patterns are found to continuously evolve into striped forms with increased asymmetry of the SO coupling.

Weak Nonlinear Matter Waves in a Trapped Spin-1 Condensates

The dynamics of the weak nonlinear matter solitary waves in a spin-1 condensates with harmonic external potential are investigated analytically by a perturbation method. It is shown that, in the small amplitude limit, the dynamics of the solitary waves are governed by a variable-coefficient Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. The reduction to the (KdV) equation may be useful to understand the dynamics of nonlinear matter waves in spinor BECs. The analytical expressions for the evolution of soliton show that the small-amplitude vector solitons of the mixed types perform harmonic oscillations in the presence of the trap. Furthermore, the emitted radiation profiles and the soliton oscillation frequency are also obtained.

How to Observe Dipolar Effects in Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates

We propose an experiment which proves the possibility of spinning gaseous media via dipolar interactions in the spirit of the famous Einstein-de Haas effect for ferromagnets. The main idea is to utilize resonances that we find in spinor condensates of alkali atoms while these systems are placed in an oscillating magnetic field. A significant transfer of angular momentum from spin to motional degrees of freedom observed on resonance is a spectacular manifestation of dipolar effects in spinor condensates.

Spatial Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the St\"{u}ckelberg oscillations of a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate subject to a spatially inhomogeneous transverse magnetic field and a periodic longitudinal field. We show that the time-domain St\"{u}ckelberg oscillations result in interference fringes in the density profiles of all spin components due to the spatial inhomogeneity of the transverse field. This phenomenon represents the Landau-Zener-St\"{u}ckelberg interference in the space-domain. Since the magnetic dipole-dipole interaction between spin-1 atoms induces an inhomogeneous effective magnetic field, interference fringes also appear if a dipolar spinor condensate is driven periodically. We also point out some potential applications of this spatial Landau-Zener-St\"{u}kelberg interference.

Field-Induced Phase Transitions of Repulsive Spin-1 Bosons in Optical Lattices

We study the phase diagram of repulsively interacting spin-1 bosons in optical lattices at unit filling, showing that an externally induced quadratic Zeeman effect may lead to a rich physics characterized by various phases and phase transitions. We find that the main properties of the system may be described by an effective field model, which provides the precise location of the phase boundaries for any dimension, in excellent agreement with our numerical calculations for one-dimensional (1D) systems. Thus, our work provides a quantitative guide for the experimental analysis of various types of field-induced quantum phase transitions in spin-1 lattice bosons. These transitions, which are precluded in spin-1/2 systems, may be realized by using an externally modified quadratic Zeeman coupling, similar to recent experiments with spinor condensates in the continuum.

Weakly linked binary mixtures of F = 1 87Rb Bose–Einstein condensates

We present a study of binary mixtures of Bose–Einstein condensates confined in a double-well potential within the framework of the mean field Gross–Pitaevskii (GP) equation. We re-examine both the single component and the binary mixture cases for such a potential, and we investigate what are the situations in which a simpler two-mode approach leads to an accurate description of their dynamics. We also estimate the validity of the most usual dimensionality reductions used to solve the GP equations. To this end, we compare both the semi-analytical two-mode approaches and the numerical simulations of the one-dimensional (1D) reductions with the full 3D numerical solutions of the GP equation. Our analysis provides a guide to clarify the validity of several simplified models that describe mean-field nonlinear dynamics, using an experimentally feasible binary mixture of an F = 1 spinor condensate with two of its Zeeman manifolds populated, m = ±1.

Interspecies singlet pairing in a mixture of two spin-1 Bose condensates

We study the ground state properties of a mixture formed by two spin-1 condensates in the absence of an external magnetic field. As the collisional symmetry between interspecies bosonic atoms is broken, the interspecies coupling interaction ($\beta $) and interspecies singlet pairing interaction ($\gamma $) arise. The ground state can be calculated using the angular momentum theory analytically for $\gamma =0$. The full quantum approach of exact diagonalization is adopted numerically to consider the more general case as $\gamma \neq 0$. We illustrate the competition between the two interspecies interactions and find that as singlet pairing interaction dominates (or the total spin vanishes), there are still different types of singlet formations which are well determined by $\beta $.

Quantum rotor theory of spinor condensates in tight traps

In this work, we theoretically construct exact mappings of many-particle bosonic systems onto quantum rotor models. In particular, we analyze the rotor representation of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates. In a previous work [R. Barnett et al., Phys. Rev. A 82, 031602(R) (2010)] it was shown that there is an exact mapping of a spin-one condensate of fixed particle number with quadratic Zeeman interaction onto a quantum rotor model. Since the rotor model has an unbounded spectrum from above, it has many more eigenstates than the original bosonic model. Here we show that for each subset of states with fixed spin ${F}_{z}$, the physical rotor eigenstates are always those with the lowest energy. We classify three distinct physical limits of the rotor model: the Rabi, Josephson, and Fock regimes. The last regime corresponds to a fragmented condensate and is thus not captured by the Bogoliubov theory. We next consider the semiclassical limit of the rotor problem and make connections with the quantum wave functions through the use of the Husimi distribution function. Finally, we describe how to extend the analysis to higher-spin systems and derive a rotor model for the spin-two condensate. Theoretical details of the rotor mapping are also provided here.

Entropy-driven formation of a half-quantum vortex lattice

Half-quantum vortices (HQVs) can exist in a superconductor or superfluid with an exact or approximate U(1) \times U(1) symmetry, for instance in spinor condensates, 3He-A, Sr2RuO4, and possibly cuprate superconductors with stripe order. In this paper, we show that a lattice of HQVs can be stabilized at finite temperature even when it does not have lower energy than the lattice of full vortices at T = 0 since there is a gain in configurational entropy when a full vortex fractionalizes into a pair of HQVs. Specifically, the lattice of HQVs has an optical branch of phonon modes absent in the lattice of full vortices. Moreover, the HQV lattice at T > 0 can have a different structure than the HQV lattice at T = 0.

Ground states of trapped spin-1 condensates in magnetic field

We consider a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a harmonic potential under the influence of a homogeneous magnetic field. We investigate spatial and spin structure of the mean-field ground states under constraints on the number of atoms and the total magnetization. We show that the trapping potential can make the antiferromagnetic condensate separate into three distinct phases and ferromagnetic condensate into two distinct phases. In the ferromagnetic case, the magnetization is located in the center of the harmonic trap, while in the antiferromagnetic case magnetized phases appear in the outer regions. We describe how the transition from the Thomas-Fermi regime to the single-mode approximation regime with decreasing number of atoms results in the disappearance of the domains. We suggest that the ground states can be created in experiment by adiabatically changing the magnetic-field strength.

Energy band structure of spin-1 condensates in optical lattices

The energy band structure of spin-1 condensates with repulsive spin-independent and either ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic spin-dependent interactions in one-dimensional (1D) periodic optical lattices is discussed. Within the two-mode approximation, Bloch bands of spin-1 condensates are presented. The results show that the Bloch bands exhibit a complex structure as the atom density of mF = 0 hyperfine state increases: bands splitting, reversion, intersection and loop structure are excited subsequently. The complex band structure should be related to the tunneling and spin-mixing dynamics.